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Spiritual Expandion - Unfolding

The next steps were easy, but each one called for a decision to be made. I realized that it was the need to make more choices that was holding back my progress.

I was putting a book up on iBooks. They wanted key words. A decision. They wanted a sample chapter. A decision. They wanted…you get the picture. The steps were easy but each one needed a decision on my part.

I looked around to see where else in my life decision-making was slowing me down – or stopping me altogether.

Choose one important thing and do it

My life changed when I read a suggestion that we simply pick one important thing to accomplish each day and do it. What a difference that made! One thing. One important thing. Just one.

So if I choose to get the book cover in iBooks Author as my one important thing that meant I could look at an instruction video, again, and make my decision. Then I could read the section on uploading in iProducer. And make uploading the book the most important thing I did the next day. Each day moves me further along. And each day I have only one important thing to accomplish.

I can do that. And so can you!

Group the type of tasks

It helps to group types of tasks together. I record four videos at a time because the light is set up, my hair is combed, etc.

I write posts every day, but once a month I go through them and pull out the ones that seem to have value. Then I work on them every other day for at least three days, so I can return to them with a beginner’s mind. Then I run them through www.grammarly.com and send them to my editor. When they come back I spend a focused period of time choosing photos for all of them and bingo – I have a month’s worth of posts ready.

All because I batched my actions.

Clear space to do the work

If we’re going to focus on one thing, we have to make a decision on what we’ll momentarily put aside in order to make that happen.

If my one important thing to do this week is to edit a batch of posts, then I probably won’t record my vLog.

If my weekly newsletter is due each Sunday, I have to work on it several times during the week. I find myself inspired to write pieces of it, but on Thursday I set aside time to edit and polish it and send it to be proofed.

Choose. Pick one step, one project and begin. You can always stop. You can always expand. Just make a choice and begin.

Exploration and expanding choice

The more you go exploring, the broader your choices become.

When I made my first book covers, it was based on what I knew how to do at the time. But I kept experimenting and exploring different programs and allowing what I learned to become absorbed.

And I got better.

And better.

The more you learn, the broader your choices become.

Use visioning to explore

If I were faced with a decision that required me to place myself in a new position – or not – I’d use my imagination to explore my options. I’d examine my emotions and feeling and state of happiness in the new opportunity compared with my present circumstances, and let those feeling guide my choices.

For instance, as I study shamanism I’ve become clear that I do not want to develop a big practice for individual clients. But I do want to help change the world. I’ve found a form of shamanistic participation that fits my intentions and my circumstances. Now I get to explore exactly how I’m going to live that and share that. I simply let it unfold.

Sometimes one choice is as good as another

It doesn’t really matter what form my shamanic practice takes as long as I continue to explore and expand my own understanding and find expressive ways to share what I learn with the world.

Another example is that it doesn’t matter if I stir fry my vegetables or steam them. As long as I make the healthy choice of eating vegetables.

Some decisions are important. Others not so much.

Tomorrow is good too

If something blocks our way, move it aside for the moment. For instance, I was editing a batch of posts. I make my selections from all I’ve written lately, put them in one document and start working.

I came to one that needed a lot of work. I moved it to the bottom of the document I’m working in because I’ll feel better moving through the posts that are coming together well. I can put the decision of what to do about that post that needs work until all the rest are ready. I can make it the first thing I do tomorrow. It’ll be one decision and I’ll feel good about what I’ve already accomplished – the posts that are ready to go for proofing.

Allow yourself flexibility in your schedule and your choices in order to do your best work.

Make one decision at a time

Make a choice and go exploring. If that choice doesn’t feel right, go back to base camp and begin again in a different direction. If, on the other hand, you come to an enticing side trip, feel free to take that too.

Life is a wonderful adventure full both of choices and of surprises. Enjoy the journey.

“If you don’t have a timetable, you can’t be late.
If you don’t have a destination, you can’t be lost.”

-Conrad Stafford Johan, nature photographer, PBS Nature Channel

No Timetable

Think about that. No timetable. Just the organic flow of your day. Stop to look out the window at the clouds when you feel like it. Go for a walk and keep going until you are content. Only do work you love. How glorious to be able to simply tune into whatever you feel like doing and do that.

No Destination

Life is simply going to unfold, whether you plan on that or not. So you don’t really know where you’re going to end up because you haven’t made the choices along the way to get you there. What if an unexpected detour takes you somewhere spectacular your never expected? Be open to exploring detours.

Without a destination, you can simply immerse yourself in and enjoy the now, this moment, this second.

When was the last time you simply floated through a day?

Floated. No plans. Nap when you want to. Eat when you’re hungry. Be alone or not. Choices. Choices that are aligned with what you truly want. Do you have that kind of freedom in your life? Do you remember the last time you did?

Find your own rhythm

I’m lucky. I’m retired and can pretty much do what I want when I want. My opportunity then becomes how to get the most out of each moment. Not with a strain or effort, but with consciousness, an awareness of what my body wants, what my mind wants, what my soul wants. You have to listen within to get those messages.

Stop and breathe

Stop what you’re doing right now and take a deep breath. Let it move through your whole body, relaxing and releasing as it goes. Notice how that feels. Take another breath and let go of even more. Again, go within and listen to what calls to you, what you want.

You can do this anytime, anywhere and it’ll help you be more aware in the moment about what’s happening, and what you need. Pretty simple, right?

Listen

I get great advice from my inner voice. Sometimes it shouts at me; sometimes it whispers. But it always gives me great advice.

Listen beyond the words of those people with whom you speak. What are they not saying? What does their body language tell you?

Listen to the rhythm of nature, the unfolding cycles, the constant give and take of support. Copy that. Learn to ebb and flow, give and take, to simply let your life unfold.

When you choose to let your life simply unfold, can you make a “vision board”? A vision board is a collection of pictures and words that hold your view of the future, your wish for the future, your intention for the future.

But if you let your life unfold, you really don’t vision, do you? You don’t spend time imagining “what if.”

If you don’t vision, if you don’t make conscious plans, how do you “vote” on your future? How do you make stuff happen? You draw your future to you by your present thoughts and actions and beliefs of what is possible and what you deserve. And all that creation of your future happens in the now, the present moment.

Monitor the present in order to direct the future

What you’re focusing on in this moment is exactly what you’re helping to gain momentum and power in the future. If you focus on what’s not going well in your life, you’re simply attracting more of that. To get more good stuff, we have to focus on and think about the good stuff.

Turn the negative around

I keep putting off uploading a short complete book on Amazon and iBooks. It’s technical, I can do it, but it’s not half as much fun as making up new stuff. I have to move the focus off how I feel and picture the positive effect my words may have on someone else’s life. It’s selfish of me not to take those final steps. When I change my patterns and choices in the present moment, I change the outcome in the future.

I sometimes beat myself up for being such a loner. But I can switch that vision of myself by focusing on the creative, focused, prolific productivity that being alone, working alone and having time to think alone produces.

Change how you view what you would put on your vision board

If I see my writing as being in illumined service, that shows up on my vision board as an intention to be a bright light, not a mound of dollar bills. If I hold my regular conversations with like-minded healers as mutually supportive on my vision board, I promote growth and expansion not just a certain number of Skype calls a month.

Notice how you view the results you want on your vision board and see if they can become more expansive and inclusive.

You cannot force your vision

You cannot force a vision, but what you can do is make choices in the moment. Make aligned choices that’ll carry you in the general direction you want to go. The beauty is that each choice opens new doors, new side roads to explore, new opportunities you never expected. So you don’t want a final result on your vision board, you want the flexibility and unexpectedness of simply traveling a path.

An unfolding life can still have a vision board

My vision board would show a woman traveler alone on a path carrying a lantern high. Periodically she stops to draw a map and places it in an obvious place beside the trail so others can find it.

My vision board includes my helping spirits in the invisible world who guide me along my journey. They’re in the mist around me, ready to offer assistance.

My vision board holds side trails that tempt me to explore them.

And my path is always leading upward.

Sometimse on my vision board I turn to walk beside someone in service, to shine my light so they can better see and then take their own steps.

But there’s no end result on my vision board. No final destination. It contains only my journey – the one I’m on now and will continue to be on. Change comes from my choices, in the moment, the choices that take me on a side path or up a hill or across a stream.

We are constantly cultivating the Garden of Self deep within ourselves. What we say and do affects the growth of our inner crops. What we plant is what we harvest. I paused to look more closely at the seeds I was planting for the future.

What are you growing in your inner garden?

Any good gardener knows you have to prepare the soil. That means weeding out the old, the unusable and that which is no longer needed. Begin there. Examine your beliefs and expectations to make certain they’re aligned with your dreams and desires.

Taking a reality check includes knowing what you love to do, what you’re willing to do and what you keep putting off. That self-awareness will help you plan a balanced garden.

What do you want to grow in your inner garden?

Good gardeners have a plan. They look at color schemes, bloom dates, and their local climate. And they choose the size of the garden they plant based on the crops they want to harvest and what they can and are willing to care for.

Do the same with your inner garden.

I have let some things go fallow but I don’t want to weed them out. I just want to let them lie dormant for a bit. For instance, vLogs have taken over the space once occupied by my podcast. Short booklets have taken over from longer projects. I allow more space in my inner garden for meditative journeying to explore my invisible self. These choices will affect how much I plant and what crops I’ll harvest.

As there’s only so much time and space, plan your garden to accommodate your time and attention.

Expand the skills you need to cultivate your inner garden

When I learned how to make a vLog, it opened up a new way to communicate and a new audience to reach. The new skill nourishes me both inside and out. What new skills do you need to acquire and plant in your inner garden of the future?

Expand your knowledge of how to grow your inner garden

Growing your inner garden is a personal journey. With each new choice, each new awareness, you’ll need to make adjustments. You may need new skills. You may need to weed out an old pattern. Be fluid and flexible when cultivating your inner garden.

You may explore new spiritual processes and figure out ways to incorporate your version into your practice. You may deepen your understanding by reading a book or taking a course or watching a video online. You may acquire a new skill that creates new opportunities. Use your intellect to explore and your heart to choose what to keep.

Interact with people who make you think in order to nurture your inner garden

The more specialized your crop, the further afield you may have to go to find people who are cultivating a similar crop.

I have developed a small circle of friends who are on paths similar to mine. I speak with them individually on monthly Skype calls. We encourage each other and talk philosophically and in depth about our mutual interests. Each conversation nurtures the seeds of ideas that we are cultivating within each of us and cross-pollinates our ideas.
Who would you like to connect with monthly for a conversation that would enrich and expand you both? Make that connection happen.

What new crop do you want to plant in your inner garden?

You can’t grow everything in your garden. You have to be selective. What crops are you growing that bring out the best in you – your passion, your sharpest skills, your most eloquent self-expression? Do more of that.

Be realistic about your choices. I love to learn and am forever exploring new ideas. But it can become overwhelming. So much so that I sometimes end up doing nothing.

Be realistic about how much time it’ll take you to cultivate and harvest the crops you choose, and adjust your planting selection.

Cultivating your inner garden requires new self-awareness

Not only do we need to be aware of what we plant but we also have to be aware of what we allow to grow in our inner garden. We need to weed out any doubt or idea that doesn’t support our journey.

What do you need in your life? How do you need to change your work habits in order to find balance?

Know what you want to grow and how much of it you’re willing to cultivate. What do you need to change about your inner garden that will increase your value and your impact?

Plant new seeds in your inner garden

Select the seeds that offer the most impact.

As the world moves into the need for a more aligned group consciousness, I’ve become more active in group meditations. I’m more aware of and active in supporting the causes I hold as vital to our planet. I plant the seeds of subtle activism.

The more I read and listen and exchange ideas, the more opportunities I find to explore, the more seeds I want to plant, the more crops I want to harvest. The seeds I plant and cultivate in my inner garden are changing my inner landscape, and that affects my outer world.

What new seeds have you found to plant in your inner garden?

Choose your crops of the future

You have to adjust your crops. I prefer to let my life unfold, but I am actively selecting and planning new seeds that call to me. I allow time for them to ripen so I can see how best to use them. Those ideas that don’t resonate are not tended and they go away. Those ideas that call to me are explored and expanded and shaped into alignment with my passion and strengths.

Whether you’re planting a new crop for the future or weeding out things that you don’t want in your future, tend your inner garden in a manner that nurtures you. Thin out your ideas. Prune overgrown concepts to allow for greater growth. And fertilize and water those ideas and concepts you want to bring forth into your future.